A Big Small World
by Axel Griffin
Summary: When a teenage boy goes missing, the detectives bring in his best friend, who just happens to be Barba's niece. As the case progresses it gets more complex, and as does the family dynamic between Barba and his niece, and the unit as a whole. (This is kinda a family drama, Benson is a thing in this but not until the later chapters, Rollins/Amaro is also a thing, but only implied)
1. Chapter 1

"Benson!" Rollins speed-walks into the office, holding a stack of files.

"Yes? It's hardly 9 o'clock," Benson stands up from her work and runs over to join Fin, Amaro, and Carisi huddled around Rollins. "What's going on?" Benson asks.

"Missing kid," Rollins replies, "16 years-old, male, white, not too much on him,"

"Who, when, and where?" Amaro asks, opening his laptop.

"Judah Hepkins, went missing 27 hours ago from his home up in the Bronx,"

"Family?" Carisi takes a bite of his doughnut.

"That's where it gets complicated," Rollins opens the file, "he was born in Russia, but his mother's a US citizen so he has dual-citizenship. His parents were never married, but his mother, Alexa Balmer, married Gregory Balmer and had a son. His father moved back to the states a few years later and has been here ever since. But, a few months ago child protective services received an anonymous call saying the Judah was being abused by his mother, so he was moved in his father's custody. However, Judah had always been restricted from seeing his father, so when Judah went missing, so the father had no idea where Judah would go or who would take him,"

"What type of abuse was it?" Fin crosses his arms and looks at Rollins, who looks up from her paper, always somewhat intimidated by the large man.

"Neglect, they were denying him food," Rollins answers.

"Did you bring the mother and stepfather in for questioning?" Amaro asks.

"Yes, and the best friend, this girl named Miyoko María Barba, they'll be here soon," Rollins replies.

"Wait Barba? As in Rafael Barba?" Amaro asks.

"Yeah, Miyoko is his niece," Rollins closes the file, "and if you're wondering about the name, she's half Japanese,"

"Okay, what else should we know?" Carisi adjusts his suit and sits down at his desk pulling out a pen and paper.

"She tore my family apart," a voice from behind Benson makes her turn, "My brother only married her mother because she was pregnant," Rafael Barba stood behind the lieutenant, briefcase in hand and his jacket over his forearm.

"Hey Barba," Carisi greets the lawyer, "missing kid, nothing has gone to trial, what are you doing here?"

"Abusive parents, missing kid? Please, why are you even bringing María in?" Barba lays his briefcase on the extra desk the unit has set for him.

"Because she probably has a different perspective," Benson points out, "do you have a problem with that?"

"No," Barba looks down at his shoes, "But I would like the be the one the interview her,"

"We can't allow that," Benson snaps.

"You can, if someone else is there,"

"I'll do it," Carisi stands up, "Fin and Rollins with Alexa and Benson and Nick with Gregory."

While Carisi was speaking, a young woman had appeared through the doorway and walked over to the detectives, "Tío," ( _Uncle_ ) she looks to Barba who turns towards her with a look of irritation.

"Mi pequeña sobrina," ( _My little niece_ ) He smiles coldly at the young woman. Her Japanese features are blended with caramel skin and long thick brown hair to create quite a striking creature, but her brown eyes are cold.

"I was called in by Detective Rollins, about Judah," She looks to the detectives, trying to figure out which is Rollins.

"Yes, thank you for coming in," Rollins sticks out her hand and Miyoko takes it.

"Anything to find him," Miyoko's accent is Cuban, similar to her uncle's. She runs a hand through her hair, "You also told me that his mother and stepdad are coming? Yeah have fun with that,"

"What does that mean?" Benson tilts her head slightly, studying the young woman.

"Well considering how bad-shit crazy they are it'll be a miracle if they even show up,"

"Is that them?" Amaro nods towards the door, a small woman with red hair and holding a blonde toddler coming through the doors, followed by a larger man with long grey hair.

"Sestra!" the toddler smiles and squirms out of his mother's arms and runs towards Miyoko.

"Kodomo!" ( _Child_ ) Miyoko picks up the boy and swings him around, placing him on her hip.

"My son ran away, it's no reason to call us in," Alexa shakes her head.

"Well considering that you lost custody of your son and months later he goes missing, tell me how that looks," Benson crosses her arms.

"Are you accusing us of hurting Judah?" Gregory pushes his wife behind him.

"No, we just want to ask you some questions," Amaro leads Gregory to a room and sits him down, closing the door behind him.

"Alexa, could you come with us please?" Rollins puts a hand on Alexa's back.

"Of course," Alexa turns to Miyoko, "my son, please," she reaches out her hands and Miyoko gingerly hands the boy back.

"María, come with us," Barba beckons Miyoko and she and Carisi follow the attorney into an interview room.

"Please sit," Carisi gestures to a chair and the young woman gingerly sits down.

"How long have you been friends with Judah?" Carisi opens a file and clicks a pen. Miyoko looks from Barba and Carisi and shrugs,

"Ever since he came to the states, about four years ago."

"And where did you grow up?" Carisi scribbles something on his paper. Miyoko raises her eyes to Barba, who's pacing back and forth behind Carisi,

"Preguntarle," _(Ask him)_ she nods her chin at her uncle. Carisi looks up at Barba, who puts his hands in his pockets and stares at his niece.

"Born in Cuba and raised there in the winter and Japan in the summer. Well, until her mother died when she was 10, she then was send to a boarding school in America where she learned English, left boarding school and went to a public high school and this is where we are now,"

"¿Cómo sabes todo eso?" ( _How do you know all that?_ ) Miyoko crosses her arms and glares up at her uncle.

"Porqué soy tu familia" ( _Because I'm your family)_ Barba glares down at Miyoko.

"Okay," Carisi glances from Barba to Miyoko ready to break up the family members, "Miyoko, did you make the call to child protective services?" Miyoko breaks her gaze from Barba and looks at Carisi, startled.

"How did you know?" Her eyes shift from the detective to the attorney.

"You really think those calls are anonymous?" Carisi asks.

"Yeah, I made the call, is there a problem with that?" Miyoko's voice becomes defensive, and so does her posture.

"Well we recorded the call, you seemed pretty worried, but now that he's gone missing, you seem… uninterested," Carisi leans over the desk. Miyoko leans back in her chair,

"It was probably his parents, and you have them here, so why should I worry?"

"The two of you are best friends, even so you should be pretty worried," Carisi twirls the pen in his hand. Miyoko sighs and studies the wall.

"He's a smart kid, he'll be okay," Miyoko ran her hands through her hair. Carisi sighs and stands up and folding the file in his hands.

"Okay, well you know where we are if you care to tell us the truth. Barba," Carisi beckons the attorney to accompany him out the door, leaving Miyoko with her chin in her hands, staring at the wall.

 **Hey, so I know people hate AN so I'll try to make this short, I've only seen seasons 14-17, so this fic is the season 16 cast. Anyway, comments are always appreciated (as is constructive feedback) lots of love, -Axel  
**


	2. Chapter 2

"What'd you find?" Carisi half-sits on Rollins desk, looking at the blonde across from him.

"Alexa _hates_ Miyoko, she's convinced that Miyoko's the one who made the call that took away her son," Rollins types something on her laptop.

"Well, she's right about that," Carisi hands Rollins the file, "what else did you get?"

"Practically nothing, but I'm amazed that she still has custody of the blonde one," Fin flips through a file and shrugs, tossing it onto the desk.

"Benson and Nick?" Barba sits down at his desk and rubs his temples, sighing. Rollins cautiously walks over to the attorney,

"How about you?" She drums her fingers on the desk, "What's going on inside your head,"

"Well considering I haven't talked to my niece in nearly five years, I have no idea what she's like now,"

"You two don't seems to be on the best of terms," Carisi joins Rollins, looking down at the attorney, "do you mind telling us what happened?"

"Am I being interrogated?" Barba stands up, looking at the two detectives.

"No, we're just curious," Rollins shrugs, but Barba shakes his head as Benson and Amaro walk out of the third room.

"What'd you find, detectives," Barba walks away towards the center of the room.

"Alexa is convinced that Miyoko had something to do with Judah's disappearance, but that's probably biased," Fin shrugs.

"And Gregory isn't much better," Amaro cuts in, "He hates Miyoko almost as much as Alexa,"

"Hey Rollins, look up the child services report on Judah and his parents," Benson looks over Rollins' shoulder as she looks up the report.

"Uhh starvation, physical abuse, emotional abuse, most of the physical abuse was done by Gregory," Rollins looks up the the lieutenant, "they were aloud the keep Nico, their younger son, because there were no signs of abuse on him.

"So Gregory was sad about losing his punching bag," Benson sighs, "Usually all the children are taken away from the parents,"

"Well," Rollins scrolls down on the report, "considering Nico's the biological child of the two of them, while Judah only has his biological mother, Judah's father could have complete custody of him. Child protectives services wanted to keep him out of the system, plus Nico had no signs of abuse. There are regular home visits to the home, but nothing's come up,"

"When was the last visit?" Amaro asks.

"Uhh about two weeks ago," Rollins looks up at him.

"Okay, what did Alexa think about her son?" Benson asks.

"She certainly didn't like him, and she thought that the starvation was a reasonable punishment for whenever he acted up, but she would never beat her son," Rollins reads.

"Oh, what a saint," Carisi rolls his eyes.

"Well, she can go, keep the father here," Benson nods to Amaro, who goes into the second interview room and walks Alexa and Nico out.

"But what about my husband?" Alexa turned to Amaro.

"I'm sorry, but he'll have to stay with us, we'll call you if we have any news," he puts a hand on her back and walks her out.

"And María?" Barba asks, studying his shoes.

"I'm sorry, María?" Benson crosses her arms and looks at the attorney.

"That's the name my family gave her and that's the name I'll use," Barba's voice is sharp and cold, more so than usual.

"I see what you mean about them not being on the best of terms," Rollins whispers to Carisi, who chuckles softly.

"Well, she's obviously not telling us something," Amaro says, fingering though the file.

"Then she stays, you guys keep working. Barba, come with me," Benson orders.

Benson closes the door behind her, "Barba, what the hell is your problem?"

"What do you mean?" He turns to her, annoyed.

"This grudge against this… child! Where did it come from?"

"It's a family matter," Barba pinches the bridge of his nose.

"Well you can either explain it to me or you're off the case," Benson snaps, "we're being gracious letting you here."

Barba sighs, laying his jacket over a chair, "I didn't even know she existed until she came knocking on my door at age 10 with black eye saying, 'Papa hit me.' As you can probably guess I don't really get along with her or her father,"

"And nothing was done about it? Her father still has custody?" Benson stares at the ADA, shocked.

"She had been in the states for less than a week, it was the first time there wasn't _any_ abuse of _any_ kind, and the mother had recently died in Japan, so the let him off with a warning,"

"Did you see her after that?"

"Every now and then, she lived in the same building as me before I moved to Manhattan,"

"How did her mother die?"

"Accident, that's all her father told me,"

"And how old is she?"

"Just turned 17," Barba sighs.

"Well, Barba, you probably need to get back in that room and mend some wounds, we're going to need her for this case"

"No problem, _Lieutenant_ ," Barba's voice is almost mocking on the last word. He grabs his jacket and exits the room.

Barba walks into the room to find Rollins at the computer again, talking to the team, "So I pulled up Judah's medical records. He's had four broken bones since he came to America, which-"

"Woah, woah, woah," Carisi puts up his hand, "why wasn't this investigated?"

"Not sure, my best guess is the family is foreign, the doctors didn't want to dig too deep," Rollins spins in her chair, looking at all the detectives.

"Interesting, well we might have to arrest Gregory for assault," Amaro stands up and begins to walk to interview room two but Benson calls out to him.

"Nick, wait, if we start accusing him now then we won't get any information from him."

"So you just want us to wait until he tells us something?" Amaro asks, annoyed.

"Yes," Benson spins around towards Amaro, "yes, because if he had something to do with Judah's disappearance we need to prove it, and arrest him on the severest charge." Amaro sighs, irritated.

"I know Nick," Rollins rubs Amaro's upper arm, earning a glance from Carisi.

"Okay, well let's go talk to Gregory," Benson closes the folder and walks to the interview room, nodded to Amaro when he puts his hand on the door handle.

"So what are we looking for?" Barba turns to Benson, putting his hands on his hips.

"Signs of guilt, comments about the abuse, etc," she shrugs and watches Amaro and Rollins sit down across from Gregory.

"So, Gregory, you abused your stepson," Amaro laces his fingers over the desk.

"I never did, Alexa hurt him, not me," Gregory replies in an attemptive reassuring tone, but sounds as though he's trying to reassure himself.

"Yeah well we have x-rays that tell a different story," Rollins spins the file towards him, pointing at a broken elbow.

"I never beat him!" Gregory shoves the file away from himself and angrily glares up at the detectives.

"I don't want to wait here all day," Amaro uncrosses his arms tilts his head back in an annoyed gesture.

"Okay, maybe a give him a scruffin' every now and then, but nothing like his father would do,"

"What?" Rollins looks up, genuinely confused.

"Yeah," Gregory grabs the file from under Rollins' finger tips and points at an x-ray.

"The date on that is after Alexa lost custody."

Rollins and Amaro glance down at the date, sure enough it happened two months after Alexa's custody loss. Rollins glances at her reflection in the one-way glass and nods.

"Let's get the father in here," Benson uncrosses her arms and walks away from Barba.


End file.
